Team 1040 host Scott Rintoul in Vancouver, BC, April 17, 2014. Rintoul is running in the Boston Marathon on Monday. He was there last last year and finished before the bombing.Arlen Redekop
/ PNG

A group of Boston Marathon competitors are lead onto the field by Jim Hoyt, pushed by his father Dick Hoyt, during a tribute to survivors and first responders of the Boston Marathon bombing, before the game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 20 April 2014.CJ GUNTHER
/ EPA

Team 1040 radio host Scott Rintoul was in Boston a year ago to run the famous marathon and was safely in his hotel room, post-run, when the bombs went off at the finish line. The 39-year-old broadcaster and wife Fiona, who was pregnant at the time, were not injured. Nor were they scared off.

The Rintoul family, which now includes six-month-old daughter Abigail, are back in Boston with Scott again planning to run the marathon. We caught up with him before he flew to Beantown.

Q:

Before we talk about last year, and why you returned to Boston this year, let’s briefly review your running career. Did you do a lot of cross-country, or competitive track and field, growing up in Kamloops? How did you get into marathons?

A:

Honestly, I fell into marathons for something to do. I was never a runner at all when I was younger. I played football, rugby, some badminton and community soccer. I didn’t do any track and field. It was not my bailiwick. Then one winter I started running a little bit and I saw one of those Vancouver marathon training programs, so I thought maybe I’ll do some of these runs. I did all right and thought, since I’m doing this, why don’t I do the Vancouver marathon? That was 2005, the same year I joined the radio station. I finished in 2:52.43, which is still my best time.

Q:

Did this success, breaking three hours in your first attempt, get you thinking about other marathons, like Boston, or New York?

A:

Someone told me that my time in Vancouver qualified me for Boston. I was, like, OK, whatever. They said: ‘No, no, you should go. A lot of people would love to do this.’ So in 2006, I went to Boston. I didn’t do another marathon until 2012, although I did the Penticton Ironman (Triathlon) in 2009. The reason I did the 2012 marathon here was to qualify for Boston 2013, because I was looking for another challenge and my wife, who had never been to Boston, said she’d like to go and see the city.

Q:

You finished Boston 2013 without incident, without a hint of what was to come, and returned to your hotel to wind down. Can you take us through those frightening moments that soon followed?

A:

After I finished, I was done, exhausted, my legs were spent. So Fiona and I sat in the finishing area for a good half an hour, or 45 minutes, and I was just hydrating, that sort of thing. Then we walked back to our hotel, which was just under a mile from the finish line. I did an interview with the midday show, Sekeres and Price, and it was a very light interview. We were just joking around and then I jumped in the shower. While I was in the shower, the bombs went off, but I didn’t hear anything. And my wife didn’t hear anything, either.

Q:

So how did you actually find out what had happened? What was the first indication you received that something had gone horribly wrong?

A:

When I got out of the shower, I looked at my phone and there was a text from Trevor Martins, the midday show producer, asking me if I was OK. I

said: ‘Yeah, of course, I’m OK. I just talked to you guys. What do you mean?’ So he said: ‘Turn on your TV.’ That’s when I saw what had happened and I thought: ‘Uh-oh, what is going on here?’ The station then called me immediately and wanted to know what it was like to be there. For the next number of hours, I went into reporter mode and did a lot of interviews. My phone kept ringing.

Q:

Were you told by the authorities to stay in your hotel room? Or were you free to go out and take a look around?

A:

At that point, they were advising people that maybe they shouldn’t leave their hotel, but I said we’d like to get out if we can. So we went down and asked a police officer on the street if it was OK and he said: ‘Yeah, you should be fine.’ It was just after 7 p.m. by this time and we walked to dinner and the streets were pretty vacant relative to what I remembered about 2006. Usually it’s a pretty celebratory mood and, as you can imagine, it was not like that at all. There was a pall cast over the city.

People were pretty scared. We went through that feeling of ‘we’re lucky, we’re very lucky.’ But, no, we didn’t feel this might be another 9/11, or part of a series of attacks.

Q:

After what might be considered a bit of a narrow escape, you have decided to return to Boston and take the whole family with you. Why? Why not stay at home, or go to a different city?

A:

I think the reason is we just want to be part of the group that helps Boston heal. I’ve always believed in the power of sport being something that unites and is bigger than wins and losses and contracts. So I think this event embodies that. I guess anything could happen but, if that’s going to change the way we live our lives, then they win. I think the reward is being part of the group that stands up and says: ‘We will continue.’

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